Giving the floor to influential female composers, and a world premiere for a rediscovered work, Europe's first professional Black and Minority orchestra promises another special night at the Southbank
After a few successful performances in 2024, the Chineke! Orchestra are back at the Southbank Centre, this time honouring female composers and musicians who have paved the way for so many.
For a bit of background, the Chineke! Orchestra is the first professional orchestra in Europe to be comprised of majority Black and ethnically diverse musicians. After Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE was noted by then Minister of Culture Ed Vaisley that there were so few people of colour on stage for classical orchestra, she became inspired to make a change. Nine years later, the Chineke! Orchestra has travelled the world, and given world premieres to twelve different pieces from Black composers.
This night at Southbank gives light to the women who have made a difference in the classical realm. Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson guides the audience through a series of movements, beginning with Eleanor Alberga’s extraordinary, otherworldy Jupiter’s Fairground, followed up with Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Sussex Landscape which effortlessly and vividly evokes the pastoral.
The centrepiece of the evening will be Valerie Coleman's Concerto for Wind Quintet and Orchestra, Phenomenal Women, a tribute to women who have stepped into unknown realms, inspired the world, and moved the course of history; shining a bright light and opening doors, especially for women of colour.
Following the interval, the orchestra are proud to break ground with another world premiere, Florence Price's fourth and final symphony. For years it was thought to be lost, until it was found amongst manuscripts in Price's former home. It was never performed in her lifetime, but now comes to the Queen Elizabeth Hall. The Chineke! Orchestra couldn't be more proud to present this significant work, and to give the floor to these incredible women.